Forum Discussion

tom.leylan's avatar
tom.leylan
Adventurer
1 year ago
Solved

air link automatically starting

I not only do not have an issue starting air link... it suddenly starts running without my requesting it. I used to have to "start" link by connecting to the PC which makes it easy for me to choose native vs PC but now (most of the time) when I start the headset it connects to my PC and I'm forced to exit air link.

Turning off air link every time isn't the ideal solution so did something change in this last update? Is there an option for "auto start" air link that I can turn off?

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    1 year ago

    Hi tom.leylan TheKazooks there's been a recent change in the developer options where you can toggle the link auto connect on and off. you'd think that MetaStoreHelp  would know their own product. ğŸ™„

     

22 Replies

  • MetaStoreHelp's avatar
    MetaStoreHelp
    Community Manager

    Hey there tom.leylan, thanks for reaching out about this. We'd love to get this resolved so you can get back to your PCVR! 

    If possible, we'd recommend unpairing the headset from your computer which will stop the automatic connection. This isn't ideal, especially if you use Air Link often. 

    You could also turn off the Bluetooth on your PC if possible,

    We hope this information helps and we hear back from you soon!

     

    • tom.leylan's avatar
      tom.leylan
      Adventurer

      Well let me test the options. It didn't used to automatically start, right? Something was added in a recent update? People switch back and forth, particularly (I will guess) developers who have to connect using both methods to test their software. If I use the cable it won't auto connect, obviously because it doesn't see the cable so I don't know why air link auto-connect isn't just an option.

      • MetaStoreHelp's avatar
        MetaStoreHelp
        Community Manager

        Hey there, thanks for getting back to us so quickly. 

        While you work on those steps, we'd appreciate you filing a bug report for this issue. You can do this on your headset via the 'Report a Problem' button or by shaking your phone with the Meta Horizons mobile app open. 

        Thank you! 

  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous

    Hi tom.leylan TheKazooks there's been a recent change in the developer options where you can toggle the link auto connect on and off. you'd think that MetaStoreHelp  would know their own product. ğŸ™„

     

    • tom.leylan's avatar
      tom.leylan
      Adventurer

      I will try that shortly... thank you very much. And "Yes" it seems that using a product is not a requirement for supporting it and (I'll bet money) being a manager at the company. I've witnessed it personally too many times.

      • MetaStoreHelp's avatar
        MetaStoreHelp
        Community Manager

        Hi again tom.leylan,

         

        Just checking in with you! Has the above mentioned fix by the community member resolved the issue?

         

        Can't wait to hear from you!

    • TomCgcmfc's avatar
      TomCgcmfc
      MVP

      Anonymous wrote:

      Hi tom.leylan TheKazooks there's been a recent change in the developer options where you can toggle the link auto connect on and off. you'd think that MetaStoreHelp  would know their own product. ğŸ™„

       


      Good call on this mate but I believe that meta support only provides support for their consumer product.  Developer accounts are supported from Developer support.  In any case, this auto Link option has been around for a long time so those that bother to know how to properly use a Developer account would already know this.

      While having a developer account may be useful for some experienced users, like yourself, it's not something that I recommend for most users.  I mainly only found it useful to disable boundaries because I found stationary boundaries were too small and confining.  This worked ok but it often resulted in incorrect heights when changing apps.  Now that V77 includes a Large stationary boundary option (~2x the size of the original) I don't use my developer account anymore and have actually deleted it. 

      My developer account was also useful ~6 years ago with my Q1 because at that time, for wireless PCVR, you needed to download Virtual Desktop from external (non-meta) sources.  This is no longer the case.  Some may still want to import standalone apps/mods from external sources, but I don't find this useful.

      In any case, Meta support doesn't provide support for developer accounts, nor does it support external addon mods.  Expecting them to do this is a bit unreasonable imho.  Cheers.

  • rmzalbar's avatar
    rmzalbar
    Expert Protege

    On the one hand, this is hilariously helping with the issue I've had ever since I've started using Airlink, taking sometimes 10 or more retries to connect at the beginning of each session. Kind of relaxing to sit back and wait until it finally hooks up. On the other hand, every time I want to use my headset for anything normal, I'm stranded in the Airlink connection screen until it succeeds just so I can tell it to disconnect! Also hilarious.

    "The cores told me our intelligences are mad. And all the billions we paid, so long ago..."
             - William Gibson, Neuromancer

    • MetaStoreHelp's avatar
      MetaStoreHelp
      Community Manager

      Hello, rmzalbar! We'd like to option for you to jump into the VR world to be available to you at any time, so we popped in to help with your Air Link connection as well! For trouble launching Air Link, please confirm your play set-up meets our recommended best practices as listed below:  

       

      • Have the PC connected to Router/Access Point via Ethernet cable and not Wi-Fi
      • Headset should be connected to Wi-Fi via 5GHz band (AC or AX)
      • Router must be in the same room as the headset or in line-of-sight, and at least 1m (3.3ft) off the ground
      • Use a non-mesh network configuration
      • rmzalbar's avatar
        rmzalbar
        Expert Protege

        Thank you for responding. I'm way ahead you on that one. Ethernet to AC, AX or AXE router, same room, off the floor, Win 10 and Win 11. No wireless backhaul anywhere. Z690 intel 12th gen platform. Issue has followed me across two headsets and three different routers. It's only the initial connection that gives a problem - once it succeeds to the point of getting the dashboard, it's solid for as long as I care to play, all night Subnautica sessions no problem. Super weird. No issues, ever, connecting with virtual desktop or steam link, it always fires up first time every time.

        I just replaced my motherboard and CPU yesterday due to a failed CPU, so I'll be rechecking this issue next time I get a chance. At this point I have a Ship of Theseus situation.

  • T_Ice's avatar
    T_Ice
    Honored Guest

    Hi!

    Unfortunately the flag/switch is no longer working since firmware version '77.0.0.1033.319', AirLink is automatically starting when the device comes out of sleep-mode, and worst of all: it consistently hangs on the Quest, with the only solution being to forcefully restart the Quest 3 (hold powerbutton, select restart). Then after the restart, AirLink is not automatically started, and I can use regular apps on the Quest.

    Could you please check and make sure that the 'Don't automatically start Airlink' is always working, and that Airlink itself doesn't hang? Thank you!

    Cheers,

    Thijs

    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous

      T_Ice  I'm currently on V78 1028 PTC and I'm still able to toggle the auto link start feature and it doesn't automatically start if the link app is opened or the headset is connected with the link app open on the PC. If you don't want link/airlink starting up automatically, it may be worth temporarily downloading a copy of the Oculus Tray Tool which allows you to turn off the Oculus Virtual Reality service OVR which stops the service running until you need it and you can enable it with the OTT again.

      I'm also not getting the hangs you describe when coming out of sleep mode. Having said all that many people are having issues with various elements and link/airlink especially. I left the headset on standby and the PC running for a day to get them both as up to date as they could be to ensure both were on the same page. 

      Hopefully, you'll get further updates that will sort your problems out.

      • T_Ice's avatar
        T_Ice
        Honored Guest

        Anonymous thnx, good to know that with v78 it seems to work fine! I think I'm in a pretty late update-cohort, as I only got the v77 update 3 days ago.

        I'll try the Oculus Tray Tool in the meantime, didn't know about that.